Karen laughed dutifully at Brian’s cleverness. “He always does know the angles.”
Would she be as amused when she was the one he cheated on? If I asked, she would just tell me he wouldn't cheat on her. Because of course he'd changed for love of her. How could he not? Just the thought made me want to roll my eyes.
A prickle crept up my back, and warmth slid through me and out. In response, lights in the room flared then dimmed to normal. Haris! I sat up straight in shock. How could the muse be here? He wasn’t an alumnus, of this I was certain. If I'd felt like this on campus when I was younger, I never would have dated Brian.
And wouldn't that have been a lot of heartache averted?
“Hi, everybody. I just need to check which dinners you ordered.”
We all looked at the waitress, and I stared in shock at a woman who looked to be Haris’s twin. She had longer hair and more delicate features, but there was no denying the resemblance. As if the heat flaring inside me left any doubt.
“Chicken for me and Karen,” Brian said, “and I think Clay ordered the fish?”
“That's right.”
“I did, too,” Beth said. “I always loved the cod when I was here.”
“Spoken like a true New Englander,” said the waitress. “And you, sweetheart?”
The casual Boston endearment undid me, and all I could do was stare. Matt nudged me when I didn't respond.
“Sorry. You just remind me of someone. Vegetarian option for both of us.”
“Common face, uncommon name.” She winked at me. “Haris. It means ‘grace.’”
“From the Greek, of course,” I said. Grace wasn't what I thought of when I thought of Haris, although this feminine form — how had Haris done that? — certainly had that in addition to the raw pull of heat and sex. However, I probably shouldn't be entertaining thoughts of Haris while sitting at a table with two of my exes.
Haris again gave that infuriating “I know what you're thinking” smile, and I could feel heat rushing to my face. “Got it in one.”
At that moment, for the first time in my life, I wanted to grab a woman and kiss her. Just jump right out of my seat and plant one on her. Flustered, I reached down for my purse and muttered, “Excuse me, I have to go to the restroom.”
Reluctantly, Beth pushed back her chair and said, “I'll come with you.”
“No, that's okay,” I blurted. “I just need a moment.”
Beth and Matt exchanged puzzled glances, but she said, “Okay, if you're sure.”
“I'll be fine.” Right now, I needed some space, maybe a bit of fresh air, and some quiet to think about my reaction to the muse.
I don't believe in love at first sight, but this was some damn powerful lust.
In the restroom, I ran cold water over a paper towel — thank goodness the college hadn't switched over completely to hand dryers — and patted my face. I was still flushed, although with my complexion it wasn't obvious, as it would be for Beth or even Karen.
I wet another paper towel and held it to the back of my neck. Ice would be even better, but I wasn't about to go ask for some at the bar. I still needed time to think.
The heat inside me intensified, the door swung open, and Haris walked in. So much for time to think.
I blurted the first thing that came into my head. “How did you know where to find me?”
“I am your friend’s muse, whether she knows it or not.” She shrugged. “I'm following her, not you.”
“Then why aren't you out there inspiring her, instead of in here?” Flustering me, I didn't say.
Her mouth quirked knowingly. “Maybe you're more fun to inspire.”
She reached toward me as if to brush a finger along my still-flushed cheek, and I pulled back. I still was not ready for what my power might do were Haris to touch me.
“You don't have to be afraid of me.”
With my power jumping around, spiking currents and blowing lights? “I'm not convinced.”
“What can I do to convince you?”
“Stop sounding like a stalker from a serial killer movie. Stop showing up everywhere I go. Just stop.”
She looked uncertain. “You don't want to see me at all?”
Conversational quicksand. There was no right answer here. I did want to see Haris, was fascinated by him — or her — and if Haris was willing to stand by my side as I faced down the ghosts, I'd be really happy. Feel safe. But if I told her I did want to see her, would anything change? Unlikely. I needed some space.
“Come by my work in a couple of days and we can talk. About ghosts, about you, about whatever. I don't want to see you before that.”
Hope flared briefly across her face, but her expression closed down. “You get off at the same time on Tuesday?” When I nodded, she said, “I'll see you then.”
The door closed behind her, and emptiness washed over me. The heat inside me was gone, so I knew Haris was really gone as well. This was what I'd asked for; why did I feel so lost?
I still felt flushed when I walked back to the table, but I couldn’t stay away indefinitely. Eventually, someone would come looking for me, right?
Maybe not. As I approached the table, Beth was accepting a wine glass from Clay.
“You have to try it. It has undertones of honey, don’t you think?”
She took a sip. “A little bit, maybe.” Another sip. “And orange blossoms, I think.” She glanced over at me as I sat down. “Want to try it, Pepper?”
“No, thanks.” I motioned to my cheeks. “I’ve probably had enough this evening.”
Matt said, “I’ll try some, if Clay doesn’t mind.”
Clay hesitated, but said, “Go right ahead.”
After sipping, Matt turned to me. “Are you sure you don't want to try it? It reminds me of your mom’s baklava.”
I shook my head. “No, none for me.”
Clay laughed. “Lightweight!”
“Some of us have to know our limits.”
Brian said, “And stop well short of them. I thought you were going for your MBA, but Matt and Beth tell us you went to work right after college.” He smiled at Karen. “Karen has a masters in finance and one in engineering.”
I ignored the first part of what he'd said. Addressing Karen, I said, “That's an interesting combination. What do you do?”
“I work as a consultant for engineering firms who are submitting bids on government projects. They usually have their own finance office, but I can help them fine-tune their proposals.”
That sounded like the kind of job my parents would love for me to have. Something ambitious and prominent. Something that required wearing a suit to work, working around the clock, and meeting lots of executives.
“Any interesting projects recently that you can talk about?”
She laughed. “Oh, you know — bridge refurbishments, flood walls for coastal cities afraid of rising sea levels, one outlandish proposal for a floating island as an alternate location for Congress.”
“Ship them all out to sea?” Matt asked. “I could get behind that.”
Clay snorted. “They'd get even less done than they already do.”
Beth giggled. “Do you even think that's possible?”
“I'm sure they would manage somehow.” He smiled at her.
The rest of the evening passed in pleasant conversation, with everyone talking about what they'd been up to since graduation — Clay and Brian were as close as ever and seemed to stay in touch as often as Beth and I did. By the end of dinner, I was even more convinced Beth had done me a favor when she started dating Brian behind my back. Pleasant enough for an evening, but I couldn't imagine spending my life with him.
The dinner had the usual rah-rah, go school, here are awards for people who've done the most in the past ten years — traveled the farthest, had the most kids, donated the most to the college. I wasn't even in the running for most kids, though I seriously had to wonder about the sanity of anyone who had six kids in ten years. How the hell coul
d they sleep? Clay gave a self-deprecating smile at being runner-up for most donated.
“My architecture firm had some good contracts.”
After that, the dinner broke up, with some people leaving immediately while others hung around to talk more. Around eleven, Matt and I took our leave. I asked Beth if she was going to need a ride, but she said she had it covered, so we left. I didn't see Professor Dimitriou again on the way out, and Haris had kept her word and left after our encounter in the bathroom.
I started to drift off in the car, but Matt nudged me awake. “I was right, wasn't I?”
“About what?”
“He still thinks he's in love with you.”
Thinking about the way Brian had acted, things he'd said, I just couldn't see it. I said as much, adding, “Anything he did say to me always ended with an unfavorable comparison to Karen.”
“Definitely a case of protesting too much,” Matt said. “If he wasn't trying to convince himself, he wouldn't have bothered.”
“So what you're saying is that seeming so in love with Karen is proof that he's not in love with her at all?”
“Exactly!”
“And any time a guy expresses interest in me, I should assume then that he's really in love with somebody else?”
“I didn't say that!”
“It's the logical conclusion. Either your thesis is that men who express affection are actually in love with someone else, or it is that I'm the center of the universe and all men are in love with me. And we both know that’s not true.”
His expression was priceless, but at least he had the grace to laugh with me.
After that, he wanted the non-snarky scoop on the different people he'd met. “I feel like Clay and to some extent Beth only showed me the warped mirror view of everyone.”
I was happy to indulge him with reminisces until we got to my home.
The one legal parking space in the alley was free, and Matt grinned as he turned off the engine. “I hope that's a good sign.”
Laughing, I followed him inside. The dinner had been odd but fun. I don't know what I'd expected, but neither Professor Dimitriou nor the female Haris was on the list. Still, neither surprise was unwelcome.
This time, Matt stopped me on the stairs. “It was fun being out with you again. We should make a habit of this.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but before I got any words out, he leaned in and kissed me. The touch of his lips was comfortable and familiar, but not exciting. I wondered what Haris’s lips would feel like, how my magic would react to finding out.
That thought made me pull back in shock.
“I won't rush you, but think about it.” He smiled crookedly. “We do good things together. Just look at the kids.”
They hadn't even crossed my mind during the kiss, but I knew that if Matt and I started dating and then broke up, it would be Gavin and Tina who suffered. Before I could say so, though, he brushed another light kiss across my lips. “Just think about it.”
Chapter 10
The smell of my coffee permeated the attic, punctuated by the dust I stirred up by moving and the cooking smells from the restaurant kitchen three stories below. Tina was downstairs watching another Pixar movie (Inside Out was her current favorite), but true to his word, Gavin was up here with me, ready to manage. Even with window units on both ends of the attic, the attic was stifling, but it didn’t seem to bother Gavin one bit.
He bit into a cold dumpling, then spoke with his mouth full. “I think you should work on that wall today.”
He was pointing at the north wall, at the far end of the attic. I’d started on the south end, near the stairs, and worked my way from there. So far, the worst I’d found was a mouse nest with some mummified mice still in it tucked next to one of the vent pipes that rose through this space. Wei and Benjamin had never used the attic for storage, so I didn’t even have decades of boxes to sort through.
If I were doing this at my parents’ house in the suburbs, there would be generations of crap to get rid of. My father came from a long line of thrifty people, and he proudly kept on display the passport his great-grandfather had used when he came to America, right next to the threadbare cap he wore at the time. So far, I seemed to take after my mother, but one never knew when family tendencies would show up. Goodness knows if Tina had her way, her dresser would still hold the outfit she wore home from the hospital when she was born.
Gavin was looking at me expectantly, and I gave him a mock glower. “That doesn’t make any sense. If I do that, I’ll have unworked areas between two areas that I’ve completed.”
“You should have asked me to start with,” he said seriously. “You don’t want to drag your mess through the clean part.”
I stared at him for a minute, then looked at the attic. He was absolutely correct. “Okay, Mister Manager, the north wall it is.”
Pry bar, hammer, and chisel were in the top of the tool chest next to the box of face masks. I took them out, then set my empty coffee cup on top of the chest. I should’ve brought up a thermos.
Gavin — who had also put on a face mask — placed a tarp on the floor for debris and watched as I set to work. The lath here was just like all the stuff I’d been pulling out throughout the attic — neat, evenly trimmed, long strips set with nails. However, as I hit one section near the chimney, the plaster refused to budge.
“Do you need the sledgehammer?” The relish in his voice made me smile, but I shook my head.
“I’ll work around the stubborn section and see if can open it enough to tap underneath.” Tedious work that was going to leave my shoulders sore for days and give me a piece of plaster heavy and difficult to move, but I had volunteered for this. Maybe there was something to Gavin’s idea of managing others after all.
At least the work was keeping me too busy to stress about everything else that was going on in my life, like all the weirdness at the reunion dinner the previous night.
A chunk of plaster fell onto my foot, and I yelled, “Oh, flipping suncakes!”
Gavin giggled. “That’s not what Uncle Nate says when he’s mad.”
I was sure it wasn’t. I picked up the chunk, flipped it onto the plastic, and turned back to the wall. Now I really did want to swear — where the gray plaster had broken loose, a patch of creamy white showed. Bone white.
A skeleton in the attic, because my life wasn’t complicated enough already. I looked over at my son and wondered what I should say to him.
“Come on, get to work,” he said. “What kind of lazy crew are you?”
“I’m debating whether I need another cup of coffee.”
“It’s not time for a coffee break yet. You haven’t even cleared half the wall.”
No, and I didn’t want to expose more of the skeleton yet, not with him watching. I also needed to let Wei and Benjamin know what I’d found.
“I’ll make you a deal. Go down and ask your grandmother to bring me up a thermos of her special tea, and I’ll keep working.”
“How do I know you’re going to keep working?”
Because I had to know what we were dealing with.
“I promise. I won’t slack off while you’re gone.”
And I did. The plaster was still harder than I expected — some of the bone dust leaching into it? something else? — but I did manage to carve around the area and start flaking off more chips that exposed bone.
“Gavin tells me you wanted tea but weren’t due for a break yet. I persuaded him I’d keep you busy.”
I looked over my shoulder. Wei was carrying a tray with a teapot and a pair of cups on it.
“The tea was just an excuse,” I admitted. “I wanted you to see what I’ve found.”
“Ah.” She set the tray down next to my coffee cup and crossed the attic with as much grace as if she were seating someone in the restaurant. “What is it?”
“I’m afraid I’ve found a skeleton. There’s no way of telling how long it’s been here.”
“It’s not
a body.” She motioned to the wall. “Cover it back up, please. Not with the lath, of course, but with whatever insulation you’re planning to use.”
“What do you mean not a body? I can see it. We should contact the police or something.”
“It was already a skeleton when it was put there.” She sighed. “When we bought the building, we were told that during the witch hunts in Salem, rather than turn their daughter over to be tried, one family—”
“Bricked her into the wall?”
“They gave her poppy juice first. She felt nothing — and the family didn’t dare let others know they could do magic.”
“Seriously? They sacrificed their daughter?”
“Their eldest daughter, yes, for the sake of the family.”
I thought of poisoning Gavin or Tina so the other could live. How could anyone make such a choice?
“The people we bought the building told me the story. As a sign of unity, those who could do magic procured skeletons and built them into their own homes.”
“Procured.”
“I don’t know the details. I didn’t want to know.”
“But you’re sure it’s been here since the house was built?” I waited for Wei’s nod of assurance, and even after she gave it, I felt torn. “She must have loved her family very much. I will honor that.” I stepped away from the wall; as long as Wei had brought up the tea, I might as well enjoy it. “I’d appreciate it if you could keep Gavin busy. It’s probably going to be weeks yet until this is covered, and I don’t need him telling his friends at school about the skeleton he saw.”
Wei looked at me over the rim of her teacup. “If you don't mind taking a longer break, Benjamin said he wanted to talk to you this morning.”
I hadn't accomplished as much as I would've liked yet, what with the discovery of the skeleton, but Wei had her serious face on — the same one she'd worn when they'd informed me they had decided on living arrangements for the twins and me, the brooks no nonsense, I'm going to tell you what you're going to do now, face.
“Should I clean up first?” I felt self-conscious about tracking plaster dust into the kitchen. Surely that was a health code violation if anything was — something to keep in mind when I dealt with the painters for the coffee shop.
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